THE GERMAN SOCIETY of PENNSYLVANIA Elser (13 Minuten)
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ploded at 9:20 p.m., killing 8 and injuring over 60 others. Elser only made one mis- take. He tried to get into Switzerland at a regular border crossing instead of making a THE GERMAN SOCIETY OF Grenzübertritt über die grüne Grenze. He was arrested at the border crossing and PENNSYLVANIA was soon charged with the assassination attempt. Der Film Friday Film Fest Series This movie is the second serious attempt to elevate the reputation of Elser in the ranks of the German Widerstandsbewegung and place him on an equal footing with Stauffenberg. One could actually argue that Elser should be in a special category all by himself. He saw the coming disaster a year before the beginning of the war, unlike Stauffenberg who attempted his plot five years into a war at a point where millions of people had already been killed and the coming German defeat was obvious to every- one. Elser’s foresight and civil courage sets him apart from most other Germans of that time and provides solace to the Nachgeborenen that German resistance to Hitler was not a complete oxymoron. But does this film succeed in elevating the reputation of this working class man to the level of Stauffenberg and his colleagues? Despite a great performance by Christian Friedel as Elser the movie spends perhaps too much time on Elser’s biography, including his time as a dashing young man at Lake Con- stance who enjoys the company of women and in particular his love affair with a married woman. More relevant is the treatment of his time in his Heimatdorf Königs- brunn where he witnessed the slow Nazi takeover of communal life auf der Schwäbischen Alb. Thus Hirschbiegel strives to establish Elser as a hero through extensive flash backs into his life before his arrest. Whether he finds the right balance between biopic, Hei- matfilm and political thriller is open to question. The dramatic effect of the movie seems diminished by the lack of focus on the action at the beer hall: Hitler’s speech Elser (13 Minuten) and his reason for leaving early and above all, the explosion of Elser’s bomb , which is seen only as a wide angle shot from above and far away. Moreover it seems ques- By Oliver Hirschbiegel and Oliver Schündler tionable to spend a minute and forty seconds on the hanging death of Elser’s former interrogator, Criminal Police Chief Arthur Nebe, who had joined the Stauffenberg group in 1944 and was killed before his former victim. Nebe’s execution was per- April 15th, 2016 haps a case of ironic justice but does little to emotionally compensate the viewer for Elser’s execution just weeks before the end of the war. ● 6:30 PM ● Film, Food & Discussion Elser’s courage is epitomized by a poignant interrogatory aphorism: “If not now, when? If not me, who?” This should give everyone pause to consider (historians and Non-Members $15, Members $12 movie goers alike) why more people in that time and place did not pose a similar The German Society of PA question before it was too late. This query is also incumbent on all subsequent gen- erations, not limited to Germans. Elser should serve as a moral compass for anyone 611 Spring Garden St. who does ask when and who. If this movie deserves any praise, it is for helping to 215-627-2332 perpetuate the memory of a man who asked and responded with his life. Support provided in part by the Philadelphia Cultural Fund. Elser - Er hätte die Welt verändert. ( 2015) Die Tat und das Motiv In 1964, the historian Lothar Gruchmann discovered Elser’s Gestapo interrogation Director: Oliver Hirschbiegel / Oliver Schündler protocols (Verhörprotokolle) in the former ministry of justice. Despite the fact that Producer: Boris Ausserer / Fred Breinersdorfer these statements were extorted by torture over a period of 5 days and dictated by Ge- Sreenplay: Fred Breinersdorfer stapo officers to serve as propaganda and preparation for an upcoming Schauprozess, Léonie-Claire Breinersdorfer they nevertheless offer incisive insights into Georg Elser’s life and thinking as well Music: David Holmes as into the preparation and execution of his plan. Camera: Judith Kaufmann Editor: Alexander Dittner “Ich war bereits voriges Jahr (1938) um diese Zeit der Über- Length: 114 Minutes zeugung, dass es bei dem Münchener Abkommen nicht bleibt, dass Cast: Christian Friedel as Georg Elser Deutschland anderen Ländern gegenüber noch weitere Forderungen Katharina Schüttler as Elsa stellen und sich andere Länder einverleiben wird und dass deshalb Burghart Klauβner as Nebe ein Krieg unvermeidlich ist.” Johann von Bülow as Heinrich Müller Felix Eitner as Eberle Elser’s thinking since the fall of 1938 was dominated by the conviction that Hitler’s David Zimmerscheid as Josef Schurr policies meant an unvermeidliche Krieg, a war that would lead to the death of mil- Rüdiger Klink as Erich lions of innocent people and the ultimate destruction of Germany. Elser was not in- Simon Licht as SS Obergruppenführer fluenced by anyone else nor incited by foreign agents. He believed that the situation Cornelia Köndgen as Maria Elser in Germany could only be changed by the elimination of the present leadership. Martin Maria Abram as Ludwig Elser Michael Kranz as Franz Xaver Lechner “Unter Führung verstand ich die Obersten, ich meine damit Hitler, Göring und Commentary: Karl Moehlmann Goebbels.” Here was a simple man who had a simple motive: he wanted to avoid war and the terrible consequences such a war meant for Germany and Germany’s “Ich bin ein freier Mensch gewesen. Man muss machen, was richtig ist. Wenn working class. Elser came to the conclusion that he had to kill Hitler himself. “Der der Mensch nicht frei ist, stirbt alles ab.” Georg Elser Gedanke der Beseitigung der Führung lieβ mich damals nicht mehr zur Ruhe kom- men und bereits im Herbst 1938 – es war dies vor dem November 1938 – hatte ich The Director auf Grund der immer angestellten Betrachtungen den Entschluss gefasst, die Beseiti- Oliver Hirschbiegel, born in Hamburg in 1957, became a successful TV director gung der Führung selbst vorzunehmen.” with numerous episodes of the Tatort and Kommissar Rex series. His first Kinofilm was the movie Das Experiment in 2001 for which he received several awards. His In the fall of 1938, Elser found out that the next meeting of the Nazi leadership would international breakthrough came in 2004 with the movie Der Untergang, which por- take place on November 8 - 9, 1938 in the Bürgerbräukeller in Munich. Every year, trayed an increasingly desperate Hitler in the days before the fall of Berlin. Hitler commemorated the failed coup attempt of 1923 in Munich. This event was the origin of the Blutfahne that served the Hitler movement as a powerful symbol of their A subsequent stint in Hollywood yielded less success. He was invited to direct a re- early struggle and of their fallen comrades. prise of Invasion of the Body Snatchers but the studio was not happy with Hirschbiegel’s effort, and the project was eventually shelved. In 2013, he received Elser visited Munich during this time, inspected the beer hall, and was surprised mostly bad reviews for Diana, an account of the princess of Wales’s final two years about the lack of security. Returning to his hometown of Königsbronn in Baden- and her romance with the surgeon Hasnat Khan. Württemberg, he began stealing sheets of explosives from the armament factory in Heidenheim where he worked. He visited Munich a second time from April 4 – 12, Undeterred, Hirschbiegel returned home to make a biopic of Georg Elser. Sony Pic- 1939 and selected and measured a column behind the speaker’s podium where he tures Classics bought the North American rights on the eve of the Berlin premiere in planned to hide his Höllenmaschine. 2015 and gave the international version the pithy title 13 minutes. The title refers to the fact that Hitler left the Bürgerbräukeller in München on Novemer 8, 1938 13 min- During his final extended stay in Munich from August 5th until November 6th, Elser utes before Elser’s bomb went off. This bomb would have killed Hitler and much of spent over thirty nights in the beer hall, only leaving each morning when the hall was the Nazi leadership. This is not the first movie about Elser. In 1989, Klaus Maria reopened. Else was not in Munich on November 8, 1939 when the bomb was set to Brandauer made his own Elser film, which he directed and starred in. Brandauer explode, but rather on his way to Switzerland. On that evening, Hitler changed his wanted to recognize to the man who, although he came the closest to assassinating plans for the return to Berlin because of inclement weather. Consequently he had to Hitler, had been virtually forgotten. take a train instead of a plane and left at 9:07 p.m., 13 minutes before the bomb ex-.